Still Helping Skye
by NothatRose
Summary: Ward may have pulled Skye out of her gloom. But he knows that there is still something troubling her. A sequel to Helping Skye. You may want to read that one first.


**Hey**,... Here's another one shot to Helping Skye. Your reviews gave me the inspiration to write this sequel. I hope you like it.

Thank you **Maddison1803, jonas gloppen, AinsleyWright, NikiD3195, cherry girl xxx, blackromanoff, anaavale23, nathy faithy, and Guest** (who had spotted my 0-8-4 typo [thanks] and maybe wondered why Ward was too chipper) for your reviews. Thank you everyone for reading and the adds.

**Disclaimer** : I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

**Summary** : Skye needs an answer from Ward.

xox

"Remember about you wanting to be my sidekick?"

"I never said that I wanted to be your sidekick."

"But you were all dolled up in that He-Man getup and - "

They were sitting in the lounge where Ward was reading a book when Skye had entered wearing her cape that Ward had given her a week ago. Ward, who was in the act of eating the sandwich that Skye had made for him, lowered it and turned to face her. He cleared his throat and leaned closer to her ear to whisper threateningly.

"You breathe a word of that to anyone and I will hide you in places that no one know they even existed."

"Ahhh! The classified crap. You know I hold that on the same level that I place the protocol crap on, right." Skye smirked.

Ward sat back and narrowed his eyes at her. He sucked in his cheeks in contemplation before saying, "10 push-ups instead of 20 for the next two weeks."

"Ugh! Just my luck to end up with one who is a master in manipulations. There is no way I'll let you manipulate or blackmail me into keeping that a secret."

"I believe the term is called negotiation." Ward took a sip of his drink as he eyed her dangerously.

"Whatever." Skye ignored his intimidatory eyes and replied with a wagging finger at Ward showing her non-agreement to his suggestion. "Not gonna happen. Nothing is really classified anyway."

"The deal includes one serving of junk food every two days. Anything that's unhealthy but appealing to your taste, I'll pay for it. No questions asked. I'll even stashed it away from Fitz for you."

"For two weeks?"

"Forever."

"Damn! You are good." Skye groaned in defeat. "Fine. Secret deleted."

Ward smirked and raised the tumbler in his hand as a sign of agreement. He then sat back and offered her the fruit salad he had beside him. Skye took the bowl and settled more comfortably beside her SO. After a few bites, she nudged him.

"So, are you going to stop being all weird, bubbly and chipper now?"

"You mean, stop trying to be you?" Ward drawled as he peeled the top layer of his sandwich and arranged the contents more neatly.

"I should be insulted by that question but yeah. Are you going to stop trying to be me?"

"Yes! Hell yes!" Ward raised his hands in the air and tossed his head back as he replied with triumph. An action which was totally out of character for him but he couldn't resist teasing his Rookie.

"You don't have to sound so relieved. I can't be that bad."

"Exasperatingly, yes, you are that bad." But upon seeing her sad pout, he added, "But like I said, you brought a whole new light to my life. I don't mind you doing it, as long as I don't have to."

"But why did you do it in the first place?"

"Being an Agent kind of take the fun out of a person. And I don't want that for you. You are just not cut out to be a robot. Even before what happened that day, you were on the way to being a typical robotic Agent like everyone I know. I wanted my Rookie back. And I would do anything to get you back to being who you are."

"Awwww... that is so sweet!"

"I don't do sweet. The sweetness ends here." Ward glared at her before picking up his sandwich.

"So you going back to being all robot and 'I'm Agent Grant Ward. I can shoot a fly from a distance of 450 yards - "

"That's a flea at 500 yards. Get your facts right, Rookie. And for the record, I don't sound that nasally. So you gotta work better on the impersonation thing if you want to convince whoever that you need to fool. You know what? Maybe I should make that part of your training." He nodded to his own idea before raising the sandwich to his lips. But instead of taking a bite, he eyed it and said, "And Skye, you've missed my lettuce by a layer."

"Yeayyy! My bossy and stiff robotic SO is back!" Skye clapped her hands in glee.

"Yeah. I've missed my exasperating, sarcastic and pain in the ass Rookie, too."

"Did you just say that you missed me?" Skye gasped as she stared wide eyed at him.

"Didn't you hear what I said about hiding you in places people don't know about?"

xox

Two days later, Ward noticed that his Rookie was quiet during dinner. She had spent the whole day with FitzSimmons as they ran test and took samples of her blood. He frowned at her across the table and silently asked her what was wrong with an almost imperceptible tilt of his head. Skye shook her head before going back to playing with her food.

Later, Ward was in the armory checking on the weapons when Skye knocked on the side of the door to gain his attention. Not that she needed to as she knew Ward was already alerted by her footsteps. Him acknowledging her with the way he replied without looking up from what he was doing, said as much.

"Hey Skye."

"Hey." She replied as she came over and took a seat adjacent to him. "Can I talk to you?"

"That's what I'm here for." Ward said with an encouraging smile. "I know something is not right. What is it?"

"We are a team right?" Skye asked.

"I'm not going to be your sidekick, Skye." Ward replied as he continued to reassemble the gun he had cleaned.

"Yeah yeah. I heard you the first time. Besides, you'd make a bossy sidekick anyway." Skye made a disgusted face, "Plus. You'll only upstage me with your skill in arm to arm combat, shooting, stealth and manipulation."

"Don't forget my linguistic skill. I'm proficient in six languages."

"You are so not sidekick material. You can be a super hero all by yourself." She rolled her eyes when he only shrugged his shoulder with a confident smirk in response. She then added, "But, we are a team right?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Sharp as ever."

"Compliments are not getting you anywhere, Rookie. Out with whatever is troubling you."

"What if I am a monster?"

"Skye," Ward put down the parts he was holding and sauntered closer to her. "You are not a monster."

"But something happened to me down there. You saw it. I was encased in some alien cement before breaking out and reborn like some freaking transformation that you only see in some science fiction movie. I'm freaking out from waiting to see what I'm supposed to be. I'm scared."

Ward gently took her hands in his and tenderly caressed her fingers in soothing circles.

"I know you are scared. I'm here. We all are. We all are trying to help you find the answers Skye." Ward assured her as he continued to play with her fingers. "Shouldn't FitzSimmons have a way to test you? Isn't that what they have been doing?"

"Yeah. But their idea of testing me is to chuck me in a glass case and stick those sticky pads on me. Leech off my blood for numerous test. Then have me monitored like some lab rat expected to transformed into some man-eating monster thingy. It's driving me crazy. It's like they don't understand that I'm not just another one of their scientific research or experiment. I really feel like an 0-8-4."

"How would an 0-8-4 feel like?"

"Weird."

"And that's new to you?" Ward asked with a wink.

"You are really not a nice robot, are you?" Skye accused and pulled her fingers out of his hands but only to have Ward held on to them and squeezed them gently.

"I'm designed and programmed to protect. That should constitute as being nice, right? But that's not the issue here." Ward told her. "So, come on. What is the real reason that's troubling you? Tell me how can I help."

"Will you at least stand outside the lab door when I surrender myself to FitzSimmons' needles and sticky tabs, tomorrow? I just need you there."

"If you'll not make any comments about my Tin Man heart, I'll be by your side to hold your hand like this," Ward raised their interlaced fingers to prove his point, "the whole time."

"Who is Tin Man?" Skye asked in all innocence.

Ward chuckled before saying. "That's not what's troubling you. The truth, Skye."

"Am I that transparent?"

"No. But I'm that good in reading people." He replied with an arrogant smirk.

"I think your ego is getting out of hand. We might need to blow up a door every time you need to walk through one. I think - "

"Skye - " Ward's voice took an edge as she was straying away from the topic of their conversation.

"Are you willing to eliminate a team member if she is a threat to the rest of the team and yourself?"

"Skye - " Ward was floored by her question. He growled a curse in response and immediately enveloped her in his arms. He held her close and buried his face in her hair as she pressed her face into the side of his neck. He couldn't fathom a reply to her question. The Specialist and Black Ops operative in him knew the answer. But the man in him refuse to even accept that she had asked the question in the first place.

"Ward?" Skye's quivering voice reached his clouded mind as they held on to one another. "Ward, please. What if I'm a threat to you?"

Ward slowly released his hold on her body to cup her jaw in his hands. He tenderly lifted her teary gaze to his. He searched her face as his thumbs wiped her flowing tears away.

"Ward, please. I need to know." Skye whispered brokenly as her hands clutched the front of his shirt.

"Whatever happens," Ward whispered as he leaned down to rest his forehead against hers. "Whatever happens, I'll always be on your side."

"That's not the answer."

"That's all the answer I have right now, Skye."

xox

_The next day..._

Ward couldn't hold Skye's hand as he had promised. Skye knew that he would have kept his promise but standing too close to her, meant that he would be an obstruction to FitzSimmons' working space. But Ward being in that lab with Skye meant a whole world to her.

Even if he was standing a few feet further than she would have liked. Even if he was standing tall with a frown marring his brow every time, Simmons took a sample of Skye's blood. Even if he threw a deadly look at Fitz every time the scientist shook his head and mumbled some incoherent scientific term as he studied Skye's chart. Skye didn't mind anything Ward was doing.

Simply because he was standing there with a cape on his back that's identical to the one she was wearing.

**THE END**

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